Unlike previous years, this year students at Centennial High School will only receive two days out of the week to enjoy Thanksgiving. Those two days are Thursday the 24th (Thanksgiving Day) and Friday the 25th. This change is a result of the school’s recent change from semesters to trimesters. Due to our trimester schedule, finals for the 1st trimester are scheduled for the following week. However, students are accustomed to taking the entire week of school off for Thanksgiving. This change could spark some complications for certain students. 

Like many of the new rules and guidelines implemented within the school this year, students have met them with a bit of skepticism. Though, this change sparked a new reaction. Senior Class President, Ethan Nguyen says, “This is sort of an unnecessary change, unlike the nervous changes they’ve made this year this did not need to be one of them.” Students do not see the reasoning behind the change. Typically, the week is used for conferences and students have the week free to enjoy themselves with their families. Students will recall that conferences were moved up several weeks to November 1st and November 2nd. Another change students aren’t entirely enthusiastic about. 

What challenges will this change bring? For starters, families have become so used to having the entire week of Thanksgiving off, they may have plans that prohibit students from being able to attend school. Senior National Honor Society member Alexys Graham said, “Most of my family lives in Utah, so during Thanksgiving break, we drive out and spend the week with them. This new change has forced me into a sort of dilemma. Do I stay here and learn the material I need to learn, or do I miss school and spend time with my family? I don’t understand why they’ve decided to take our break.” 

Another challenge is that many families will likely value time with family over school work, therefore some students will miss those school days indefinitely. Varsity football star Hayden Boyd said, “It’s almost ridiculous, to be honest. [It] doesn’t matter to me though, my Nana doesn’t have many more years. I don’t get to see her that often so best believe I won’t be here during that week. I will be spending some well-deserved family time with my family.” 

The decision to not give students a full week of Thanksgiving break also affects their ability to socialize with other students in other schools. Students across the state of Oregon have always enjoyed Thanksgiving week off of school and many have used those days to socialize with friends from neighboring schools. I myself already began planning with friends. However, that isn’t going to be a possibility for Centennial High School Students. 

With this distasteful reaction to the removal of Thanksgiving break, hopefully, the administration consults with Centennial families when making decisions like this in the future.